Features hands-on workshops, presentations and panel discussions

HONOLULU — The Center for Second Language Research (CSLR) at UH Mānoa in partnership with the National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC) presents an international conference on Cultural Diversity and Language Education. The conference takes place on September 17-19 at the Imin International Conference Center on the UH Mānoa campus. Topics to be discussed include theories, policies and practices associated with cultural and language diversity in educational context featuring intriguing colloquia and paper presentations, hands-on workshops, panel discussions and social events. The conference will provide a forum for examining a broad range of issues concerned with the potential and challenges of education that builds on diversity. The primary strands for exploring diversity in language education are foreign/heritage language education; bilingual/immersion education; English language education; language education planning; and policy and literacy education.Invited keynote speakers include:

Sonia Nieto — Professor of Language, Literacy and Culture in the School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. For more than 36 years, Nieto has taught students at all levels, from elementary through graduate school. Her research focuses on multicultural education and on the education of Latinos, immigrants and students of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Nieto has published a number of books such as Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education, and has published articles in journals such as Educational Leadership and The Harvard Educational Review.Glynda Hull — Co-chair of the Language and Literacy, Society and Culture Area in the Graduate School of Education, University of California-Berkeley. Hull‘s research interests cover a wide range of topics, from technology and education, to literacy and work, and community education. In 2001, she received an award from the National Council of Teachers of English for best article reporting qualitative or quantitative research related to technical or scientific communication. She has published books such as School‘s Out! Bridging Out-of-School Literacy with Classroom Practices from Teachers College Press and Changing Workers.The conference will also feature a distinguished panel of Hawaiʻi experts who will provide an overview of language issues in Hawaiʻi. The Hawaiʻi Panel: Language Issues in Hawaiʻi will take place from 12:30 — 2 p.m. on Friday, September 17. The panelists are:Bill Hoshijo is executive director of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission. He will speak on Language & the Law — A Hawaiʻi Perspective. Hoshijo has a long time commitment to civil rights and interest in language issues. He will discuss a range of language rights issues, including English-only, suppression of Hawaiian language, language and accent discrimination, access to services for persons of limited-English proficiency and state support and protection of Hawaiian language. Kent Sakoda and Lee Tonouchi will explore Hawaiʻi Creole English (Pidgin) language issues. Kent is the director of the UH Mānoa Department of Second Language Studies, instructor of Pidgin and Creole English in Hawaiʻi and co-convener for Da Pidgin Coup, a group of university and community experts who support research on Pidgin and advocate recognition of Pidgin in the university and wider community. Tonouchi is a Pidgin author, activist and instructor. He has published Living Pidgin: Contemplations on Pidgin Culture and Da Word, co-edits the journal Hybolics, teaches at Kapiʻolani CC and often speaks with children at local schools about Pidgin.Noʻeau Warner and Laiana Wong were instrumental in the development of the Panana Leo (pre-school) and Kula Kaiapuni (K-12 schools) leading to more than 1200 children participating in these Hawaiian immersion schools. Warner is an associate professor and Wong is an assistant professor in the Department of Hawaiian and Indo-Pacific Languages and Literature at UH Mānoa. Warner‘s presentation is based on his Hawaiian language research and concern for pre and in-service teacher training for the Kula Kaiapuni Immersion Schools. Wong will explore how, with the resurgence of interest in Hawaiian language and culture, Hawaiian competes with Pidgin to serve as the linguistic identify marker of Hawaiians.Registration for the conference is $40 for students and kamaʻainas and $50 for the general public. Single-day registration is available for $20. For more information and to download the registration form, visit http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/prodev/CDALE. For further information, call Kathryn Davis at 956-8508.The Center for Second Language Resources at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa engages in research, curriculum development and teacher training projects in the area of second language education. Applied research and program implementation focuses on second language teaching/learning of indigenous languages, heritage languages and language varieties. The National Foreign Language Resource Center undertakes projects that focus primarily on the less commonly taught languages of East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Many of its projects have implications for the teaching and learning of all languages, and the overriding goal of all projects is to develop prototypes that can be applied broadly as resources to improve foreign language education nationally.